Brooklyn Sports Injuries

From time to time media reports that an athlete suffered a tragic injury on the field that left the player paralyzed. While such injuries are not common, they do happen to high school, college, and professional athletes. While sports injuries that result in paralysis are relatively rare, injuries to the spinal cord are not uncommon. Each year millions of professional athletes, amateur athletes, students and casual participants are injured while participating in a wide variety of sports. While many of these injuries are minor, many others are quite serious. Among the serious injuries are a brain injury, back injury, neck injury and a spinal cord injury. A spinal cord injury is an injury that cuts, bruises or causes any type of trauma to the bones or nerves that are part of the spinal cord. While the most common cause of a spinal cord injury is car accident, spinal cord injuries also happen to those participating in individual and team sports. Statistically, the highest injury rates are reported in sports that involve contact such as soccer, football, basketball and rugby. However, serious injuries are common to athletes involved in other sports such as baseball and cheerleading. A serious spinal cord injury could dramatically affect the victim’s athletic career, but his or her entire life. If you or a family member suffered a spinal cord injury in a sports-related accident, it is important that you contact an experienced Brooklyn Sports Injuries Lawyer as you may have the right to compensation for medical costs, lost income, and pain and suffering through a personal injury claim. Furthermore, if while treating you for your sport injury your doctor makes a mistake resulting in a medical malpractice claim, the person responsible for your original injury may be legally required to compensate you for the medical mistake as well.

Depending on the type of sport, there are many things that could go wrong and result in an athlete or participant suffering a serious injury such as a spinal cord injury. Examples of common causes of sports injuries include:

• Improper padding or inadequate helmets that result in injuries to the head, neck or back, causing trauma to the spinal cord
• Inadequate training of a coach. If a coach sends an injured player back into a game when the player needed additional medical attention, that player’s injury could become worse.
• Poorly trained coaches or teachers who require athletes, students or participants to do more than they are capable of doing, resulting a serious injury

Under an “assumption of risk” theory sports injury claims are often not actionable, there are some instances in which a victim can successfully sue for damages. For example, under a negligence theory, if the negligence of a player, coach, or other person leads to the victim’s injury, the negligent person can be liable for damages. Also, if someone behaved in a wanton or willful manner and as a result the victim suffered an injury, then that person may be legally liable for that injury.

Victims of spinal cord injuries face significant medical expenses including fees associated with emergency room treatment, the hospital stay, treatment by doctors, physical therapy, assistive equipment, and medication. To make matters worse, while you are recovering you will not be able to work and earn an income to pay for your medical expenses and support your family.

Fortunately, if your spinal cord injury was due to the accidental or intentional act of another person, under New York law you have the right to pursue compensation through a personal injury claim. You may be able to recover both past and future medical expenses including hospital bills, expenses for surgery, rehabilitation fees, and fees for prescription medication. You may also be able to recover the cost of assistive equipment such as a wheelchair as well as modifications to your home to make it accessible. Furthermore, you may be able to recover both lost wages, loss of future earning capacity and pain and suffering.

If you suffered a spinal cord injury while participating in a sporting activities, contact our legal team as it is important you speak with an experienced attorney who understands both the legal issues associated with personal injury cases as well as the medical issues associated with spinal cord injuries and other serious injuries such as a brain injury. That staff at Stephen Bilkis & Associates, PLLC is experienced in representing clients who have suffered sports injuries as well as those injured in car accidents, in construction accidents, as well as in other types of accidents. Contact us at 800.696.9529 to schedule a free, no obligation consultation regarding your case.